The U.S. now places 25th in the global rankings, which compare 165 countries across areas like maternal health, education and economic status, plus the health and nutrition of children. (Complete PDF here.)

The best country for mothers was, as usual, found to be Norway. Nordic countries are the Marcia Brady's of these rankings, always earning top spots thanks to their high levels of education, government-sponsored maternity-care programs, and sea-wise Viking instincts.

New Zealand and Australia also tend to place very highly (4th and 7th this year, respectively), which is insane when you consider how much more likely you are to be killed by a poisonous snake in those places.

Niger, where women have a life expectancy of only 56, and where almost every mother will lose at least one child in her lifetime, ranked dead last this year, pushing Afghanistan up one spot from the position it has held since 2010.

It's worth considering that, even though the United States placed relatively well overall, it only ranked 25th out of 43 "developed" countries, which is actually pretty terrible.

We also claimed the lowest spot among developed nations in terms of "breastfeeding policy," which takes into account paid maternity leave laws, women's right to daily nursing breaks, and the percentage of the country's mothers who have ever breastfed their children.

However, if the report had taken into account "Countries with the highest number of babies born in the United States," the United States would have for sure locked down that number one spot, or at least number two, after Norway.